


Operation Get Craig A Boyfriend

by Preciadology



Category: South Park
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Sorry for the dumb title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-22 23:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13177962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preciadology/pseuds/Preciadology
Summary: Craig is completely useless around Tweek, the new kid he has a crush on. This sounds like a job for South Park's premier romantic advisor, Clyde Donovan.





	Operation Get Craig A Boyfriend

Not acting like an asshole was pretty foreign to Craig Tucker. Not in the way that Eric Cartman was an asshole, but the way he talked to people suggested that yeah, he kind of was. He was all sarcastic comments, witty retorts, middle fingers, or short replies that suggested he didn’t give a rat’s ass what was going on. He was like this with everyone, including his family, but especially his friends.

Clyde, Token, and Jimmy loved him for it, though. Being friends since they were little taught them that Craig may act unfeeling and all, but he actually does care about them. They knew that while he acted all tough, he really was just a dork under his cool exterior. Being dickish was just how he was socially. His sister was the same to most people, so it must have been a family thing. It’s what he was used to. It’s what everyone was used to. That was just how he related towards everyone. Craig thought this too, until he walked into lab class on his first day of the 10th grade and was faced with Tweek Tweak.

Tweek was assigned to be his first lab partner, until they switched the partners out after a couple of months. Craig had only heard about him maybe once, from Clyde’s loud, gossipy mouth at lunch. He heard that Tweek was new, and was in their grade. And he knew that he was a blonde, but only because Clyde nudged him with his elbow when he said that. Clyde knew he had kind of a thing for blondes. But that was really all he knew about Tweek. He hadn’t deemed the topic important enough to focus the necessary energy on listening to Clyde talk about it.

He remembered the first time he actually saw Tweek. Craig had never thought to describe a guy as 'pretty' before but that's exactly what Tweek was. He had a pretty face, lips just the right size and big, green eyes that others might think would be too big for his small face. But to Craig, it was perfect. He remembered feeling the wind knocked out of him, and he could practically hear violins going off in his head as his eyes raked over the golden hair framing his face like it was a work of art. He remembered how it seemed like Tweek was constantly shaking a little bit. Craig couldn’t look away no matter how hard he tried, not because of the shaking but because everything around Tweek just seemed to dull in comparison. Like the universe dimmed the lights and stuck a spotlight on Tweek.

Was anyone else seeing this? He remembered looking around at the room to find no other eyes on Tweek. Would these idiots not notice it either if the ceiling opened up and an angel floated down from heaven? Really? No one else was paying attention to that guy over there looking all perfect?

He remembered that he felt his heart flip over in his chest when he saw Tweek yawn and rub at his eyes while listening to Mr. Adams talk, a boring drawl of an introduction to his class. Craig had never felt so much going on inside him before. It was overwhelming for him to feel this much. He did have feelings, sure, but they were usually muted _way_ down to a 2. This, right here, was an 11. Was this a crush? He’d had little crushes before but none of them were as dizzying as this.

When Mr. Adams started reading out the lab partners, Craig practically choked on his own breath when he heard his name and then Tweek’s name. When Tweek started walking over to him, he felt, well, nervous. What? No, Craig Tucker didn’t get fucking _nervous_. He was confident, and grounded. Since when did he get nervous? And then Tweek looked up at him and said hi, voice shaky like the rest of him. Craig had felt his cheeks flush. Okay, yeah. Craig was nervous.

Craig remembered that after that, he had managed to pull his act together a little bit to do the experiments and written report. He and Tweek usually finished these early, since Craig was a whiz at Science. This left much time for them to do whatever until class was dismissed. Considering everyone else was still doing their work and they weren’t allowed to talk to other people besides their partners anyway, the options of what to do were either stand around and not talk to each other, or strike up conversation. And Tweek chose the latter every single time.

When Craig talked to Tweek he just couldn’t find it in himself to act like a dick. He went soft. Where he’d give people disinterested looks at whatever they were talking about, he’d grin at Tweek, chin resting on his palm and say, “Yeah? And then what happened?” Craig was like a completely different person around him.

It’s been a month now since the lab partners were switched around. Tweek hadn’t spoken to him at all since, save for an occasional short greeting or wave of his hand when they locked eyes at school sometimes. It always made Craig feel like he was floating when this happened.

Now, Craig was in the hallway, making his way to class with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his blue hoodie. He was going to stop by Clyde’s locker first, since they both had English next. It was pretty early on in the day, and Craig was pretty grumpy in the morning. Craig’s steely blue eyes looked ahead of him, face blank as usual. At least, until he saw Tweek walking the opposite direction. He was with Wendy, laughing at something she’d said. His eyes followed Tweek as he walked past him, the sound of his laugh making his insides melt in a puddle. He had such a cute laugh. God, even the back of his head was cute; he-

And then he heard a crash and the clang of metal. And felt the pain on his head. And then he heard Clyde’s voice.

“Hey!” Clyde exclaimed, closing his locker, the one Craig hit his head on. His eyes looked to Craig, then to his locker door, then to Craig’s forehead where he was rubbing where it was hit. You could see the realization of what just happened in his brown eyes before he burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. Craig flipped him off, naturally.

“You gotta watch where you’re going, dude!” Clyde said when his laughter died down, a dopey grin still on his face.

“Whatever, let’s just get to class,” Craig mumbled, already headed in the direction of where English was going to be.

Clyde trailed after him. “What’s got you so distracted, huh? Were you staring at Tweek?”

Though Craig felt he like was caught red-handed, he deadpanned. “Say that a little louder, would you?”

And Clyde did, the little _shit_. “CRAIG, WERE YOU STARING AT-”

Craig covered Clyde’s mouth with his hand, muffling the most important part. Clyde tried to remove the hand, pulling at his wrist in an attempt to get it off, but it wouldn’t budge. Craig felt immediate regret wash over him when he felt Clyde’s fucking _tongue_ lick his palm. He retracted his hand like it was scorching fire on his palm instead of Clyde’s fucking saliva. A disgusted scowl crossed Craig’s face as he wiped his hand on his jeans.

“I will not be silenced!” Clyde declared.

“Just shut the fuck up,” Craig said, irritation clear in the rough of his voice.

“Everyone already knows you’re gay, dude, it doesn’t matter,” Clyde said. It was true. A couple of years ago, a lot of the girls in their grade decided that they found his whole i-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude hot. This led to him being flirted with and sometimes, asked out. Once, he had rejected a girl and she actually bothered to ask him why. He simply replied that he was gay, something he had figured out for himself years ago. From there, he guessed that girl told her friends, and her friends told their friends and soon, to his great annoyance, people kept coming up to him and asking him if it was true. He was more irritated at the fact that people kept coming up to him than the fact that they knew he was gay. He didn’t care that everyone knew he was gay nor did he care what they thought of it.

“It’s not that,” Craig said, rolling his eyes.

“What, scared that everyone might find out your heart’s _not_ dead and cold because you’re totally in love with Tweek?” Clyde teased, poking Craig's arm repeatedly. 

“Don't touch me.”

Clyde chuckled as they reached the classroom, arriving right on time. They took their usual seats beside each other at the back. Then, when everyone else started piling into the classroom, Ms. Sanchez started talking, shrill and piercing. Craig _hated_ English. He favored subjects that demanded more logical thinking, like Math and Science. He let his mind wander instead, choosing not to listen to a lecture about whatever boring novel they were discussing. He tried to think about other things- about homework he hadn’t done yet, if his guinea pig’s cage would need cleaning when he got home later. But he knew he was just delaying the inevitable- he was thinking about Tweek again. Him and his adorable laugh that he had the absolute pleasure of hearing today. Eventually, he got to thinking about the conversations they’d had when they were lab partners.

He loved to listen to Tweek talk and he loved to learn things about him. Tweek was extremely fascinating and unlike anyone he’d ever met before. He’d told him that he moved to South Park from some beach town in Oregon because the coffee shop competition became too stiff there over time. They wanted a smaller and quieter town to move their family’s shop to. Though he was sure the Tweak family was going to be pretty upset to find out over time that South Park wasn’t exactly what he’d call a quiet town. Tweek had also told him that on top of drinking a lot of coffee, he was a pretty anxious person. Which was why he shook and stuttered often, but he was getting much better at calming himself down and being more confident. It seemed like the more Craig knew about him, the more questions he wanted to ask. Everything Tweek had told him about himself just made Craig’s feelings for him grow more and more.

In contrast, he was absolutely sure that Tweek thought he was lame. Hearing some of the things he had told him, who wouldn’t think he was lame? He remembered the conversation they had after finishing the experiment on the first day early.

_“S-so Craig, how are you so good at Science?” Tweek inquired. Craig found the stutter extremely cute. Even the way he tilted his head when he asked a question was cute. The way his voice sounded, high pitched and just the tiniest bit scratchy, was cute. Everything was so fucking cute._

_“Craig?”_

_Oh shit. That’s right, he asked him something. Craig panicked, he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t just shrug or something like he would to just anyone, he just couldn’t. With the way Tweek looked at him with shy eyes, he couldn’t find it in his heart to answer back with the signature ‘don’t-care’ Craig Tucker attitude. So he babbled, just saying things that came to mind. Things he would never tell outright and right away to someone he just met._

_“I learn about stuff on my own. I’ve always liked Science since I was a kid. I spend a lot of my time reading about it, mostly o-outer space and things like that. I really wanna be uh, an aerospace engineer so I’m studying about it and trying to get good grades in the subjects that matter so I actually have a chance to like, work for NASA,” Craig revealed. Who the fuck was that? That didn’t sound like Craig at all. He didn’t mind much when people knew about him being a space geek but Tweek? Someone he was hardcore crushing on right now? He probably thought he was a total fucking nerd._

Through the course of their lab partnership, Craig has come to accept that like he was an asshole to other people, he was just like... _that_ , whatever that was, when it came to Tweek. His voice was softer compared to his usual passive and harsh tone. He talked way more, at times sounding like nervous babble, and he actually shared things about himself. This led to Tweek knowing things about him like the fact that he had a guinea pig named Stripe #5 that he absolutely adored, and the fact that he still watched Red Racer despite being 16. He even knew that he had braces on when he was younger and that it took him a pretty long time to learn to ‘say it, don’t spray it.’

If you asked anyone else about Craig Tucker, you’d get things like ‘doesn’t give a shit about anything,’ or ‘sarcastic dick’ or, ‘that kid who used to get in trouble all the time for flipping teachers off.’ But if you asked Tweek, Craig thought he’d probably say that he was a mega fucking dork whose life revolves around his guinea pig.

———

Soon, class was dismissed and it was time for lunch. He, Clyde, Token and Jimmy were eating at the cafeteria as Clyde was animatedly telling the rest of their friends what had happened this morning. Though he was kind of an unreliable narrator.

“ -and then Craig was all like ‘bla bla bla’ whatever and I was like ‘dude you were totally making goo goo eyes at Tweek again!’”

Everyone in his circle of friends knew about his crush on Tweek already, thanks to Clyde who couldn’t keep his big mouth shut after Craig had thought for once to actually talk about his feelings to him.

“Craig, y-y-you really need to a-a-ask him out alre-already,” Jimmy said.

“Ask him if he wants to see a movie with you or something. Just go over to his table,” Token suggested. Craig glanced over at Tweek’s lunch table. He sat with the girls. Tweek had told him before that when he had just transferred, he wasn’t really friends with anyone since they probably thought his twitching and shaking all the time was weird. But then Wendy noticed he was always alone and she started talking to him. One thing led to another and eventually, Tweek was sitting with Wendy, Bebe, Nichole, and Red at lunch. He was always seen with at least one of them, and they all seemed very close for only being friends for a few months.

“Yeah, dude, he’s gay too. Red told me when I went out with her, remember?” Clyde reminded with his mouth full of the soggy Mcdonald’s fries he had brought for lunch. Craig made a face at the sight.

“Just because two guys are gay doesn’t mean they automatically want to date each other,” Craig said dryly.

“I know that! But he probably already likes you; you know why? Remember when every chick in school had the hots for you before they found out you were gay? They were totally into you being a douche for some reason! Since Tweek’s real tight with the girls, he’s probably into that too!” Clyde affirmed, pointing a fry at him.

“Yeah, I ag-agr-agree,” Jimmy said.

“I know,” Craig said. He knew this. He knew that Tweek probably wanted a guy who was you know, cool. And ‘cool’ was most definitely not how he saw Craig.

“Then what’s the problem?” Clyde asked.

Craig sighed. He knew he couldn't get them to drop the subject this early on into talking about it; so he guessed he had to tell them a little bit about it. “When we were lab partners, I...wasn't myself.”

“What do you mean?” Token said, intrigued.

“I talked a lot _.._.I, uh...” By now, his friends were leaning a bit closer to him, awaiting what he was going to say. “I told him about Stripe #5, and I ranted a lot about, you know. Science. And I told him about that time Stan’s dog chased me and like, other stuff that happened to me that was pretty embarrassing. And he knows I still watch Red Racer and that I used to have braces and a lisp."

None of his friends said anything for a while, just glanced at each other in a silent conversation as if Craig didn't know what they were thinking. Craig shot them a nasty glare. "See? I'm right. He definitely doesn't like me. Great. We can drop this now."

Jimmy was the first to speak, ignoring what Craig just said as if he didn't hear it. “Don’t t-ta-take this the wrong way but I th-think he thinks you-you’re l-la-lame, Craig. He’d n-never date you now.”

“That's what I just said. And that's why I’m saying we should drop it,” Craig said, eager to steer this conversation away from him.

“What?! No way, dude! You actually _like_ someone for once and now you’re telling us you’re not gonna do anything about it?!” Clyde asked incredulously.

Craig shrugged, “Yeah.”

“He’s right,” Token said.

“Yeah, see?! Token agrees with me!” Clyde said, throwing his arms up.

“Not you, I was talking about Craig. Now that Tweek knows about how lame Craig really is, he’d never want to _date_ him,” Token said. Upon seeing the corners of Craig’s mouth drop just a bit lower at that, he added, “if it makes you feel any better, he probably likes you as a friend.”

“A _friend_?! Craig’s not looking to be just _friends_ -”

“Yes, I am,” Craig interrupted Clyde.

“- _No_ , dude. We can salvage this. You can bounce back. Don’t you remember you have South Park’s number one romantic advisor at your disposal?” Clyde beamed, fingers pointing to his face.

“I wanna dispose of you, alright,” Craig snarked.

“I’m _serious_ , dude. Let me help you! Love is a game and I play it  _well_. You know that, we all know that,” Clyde said. As much as Craig hated to admit it, he was right. Matters of the heart were Clyde’s area of expertise. He was admittedly pretty good-looking and could talk his way into getting a date with almost  _anyone_.

"Back me up here, Jimmy," Clyde carried on, looking hopefully at Jimmy.

"Clyde's h-h-helped me with sev-several dates before. I'm p-p-positive Tweek will b-be all over you, but only if Clyde hel-helps you out," Jimmy encouraged. He'd heard Clyde give tips to Jimmy before some of his dates- things like what to wear and what not to say, advice changing depending on the person Jimmy was going out with that night.

"Yeah- and if Jimmy's word isn't enough to convince you to avail of my services, I helped  _Jamal_ get a date, remember? And no offense to him, but that kid's  _ugly_ ," Clyde reminded. How could Craig forget? Clyde wouldn't stop talking their ears off about it after it happened, immensely proud of both himself and Jamal. Kids at school would often come to Clyde if they needed romantic advice. He was pretty approachable and always happy to help them. Clyde was one of those people who knew  _everyone_. He got along with pretty much everyone too. Though Clyde dated around, he remained friends with all the girls he'd previously dated. Probably because, if Craig were to be honest, Clyde was just too nice and well-meaning for anyone to hate.

When Craig didn’t say anything, Clyde pressed on. “Come on, dude. Look- look at him over there.” Clyde pushed Craig’s cheek so that he was looking in Tweek’s direction. He was smiling and talking to Nichole, immersed in the conversation. He could spend the rest of forever looking at him smile. It made him feel warm all over.

“Don’t you wanna know what it’s like to date him?” Clyde continued. Craig saw a hundred visions in his head of what it must be like to be with Tweek. He wanted to take him out on dates and hold his hand and kiss all the little freckles on his face. With Clyde offering to help him, there was a possibility of making all that a reality. But did he really want to take a risk and go for him?

Craig tore his gaze away from Tweek and sighed, “What’s your plan?”

———

It was colder than usual in South Park today, Craig thought during his walk to Clyde’s house. The wind made the bite of the temperature seep through his clothes, his hoodie not doing much of anything to protect him. He trembled slightly, both from the weather and his nerves. He was going to be seeing Tweek really soon. Clyde had invited him over so that they could all play video games. This was Phase 1 of “Operation Get Craig A Boyfriend,” according to Clyde. He wanted to get a feel of what the situation was like with them right now so that he knew exactly how to formulate Phase 2. Although, Craig thought that this was really just set up because that asshole wanted to witness firsthand exactly how much of a fool Craig made of himself when faced with someone he had a crush on.

When he finally made it to his friend’s house, he let himself in. Clyde had texted him beforehand and said that he left the door unlocked for him and Tweek. He jogged up to Clyde’s room, taking a breath before opening the door and mentally preparing himself in case Tweek was there already.

He paused and thought that maybe he should look at himself in the mirror first. He went to the bathroom and turned on the light, checking himself in the mirror. He adjusted his hat and straightened his hoodie out a little. He checked his teeth to see if there was something stuck in them. There. He guessed he looked fine. When he was ready, he cautiously opened the door to Clyde’s room and looked around for Tweek. He wasn’t there yet.

He found Clyde sitting on the floor, setting up his console. Clyde heard him come in and turned around, “Hey! Tweek said he was gonna be running a bit late because he- _Dude_.”

“...What?”

He could hear Clyde sniffing the air around them like he was trying to find the source of a smell. He leaned his body in towards Craig when his eyes widened slightly. “Did you...did you fucking wear _cologne_ for this?!”

“Yeah. So?”

Clyde stifled a laugh, kind of sounding like a prolonged snort. Craig thought it sounded like a pig choking. “Holy shit, dude. You have it _so_ fucking bad for him.”

Craig sat himself down on one of the two beanbags available. “No shit. Why else would I have agreed to this?”

“Save that attitude for Tweek. He’ll think it’s hot,” Clyde said, shooting finger guns at his friend.

Craig rolled his eyes, “I can’t.”

“Exactly! I’m so excited to see how much of a fucking dork you are when he gets here! I should like, film it and send it to the group chat, it’ll be fucking hilarious,” Clyde chortled, tossing Craig a controller, which he swiftly caught.

Craig shot him a glare before glancing nervously at the door. He wondered when Tweek would get here. He thought about how he should look once he got here. He wanted to make a good impression. Hands in his pockets? No, he’ll look like he’s trying too hard. Leaning back against the beanbag? Nah, he’s too tall, he'd be bent at an awkward position. Maybe he should be on his phone. That way, it’ll look like he’s tex-

His ears caught onto the soft _click_ of a door opening, making his head snap in the direction of the sound. There he was, all pale skin and pink dusted cheeks from the cold wind outside. He was trembling, the coffee in his hand probably the only source of warmth he had. He wasn’t dressed for the weather at all, almost like he underestimated how cold it was out and just put on his poorly buttoned button down. Nonetheless, he was perfect, bright hair curled around his face and slightly tousled from the breeze. There were snowflakes caught in his hair like they’ve been longing to kiss the sunny locks. Craig knew he’s been too.

“Hi, guys. Sorry I was, ngh, late,” Tweek apologized, smiling shyly. He closed the door behind him and gingerly took the other beanbag next to Craig. They were sitting close enough that Craig’s knee from where his ripped jeans exposed it was touching the rough denim of Tweek’s blue jeans. Clyde might have strategically placed the beanbags that close to each other.

“That’s okay, man. We’re just glad you could be here! Right, Craig?” Clyde said, elbowing his leg from where he was sitting on the floor. Craig could already feel the many, many words on his tongue go soft.

“Y-yeah. It’s nice hanging out with you. Are you okay? Like, are you cold? It’s been pretty cold outside today, even for me, so you’re probably doing worse since you’re not used to snow. You told me you lived in a beach town,” Craig said quickly, catching himself off guard. God, he hadn’t heard himself sound like that since the last time he talked to Tweek like, a month ago. He could see Clyde already slack-jawed out of the corner of his eye, staring intently at Craig, as if he was trying to figure out if some dark magical force on Earth had caused him to switch bodies with someone just then, because _dude, what the fuck?_

“Oh! You remember! It was really cold on the way here, but I f-feel warmer now that I’m inside,” Tweek said, sipping on his coffee before setting it down beside him.

“You know what you can do? When it gets _really_ cold, I stay home and wrap myself in a bunch of blankets. I own a lot of them. I’ve had most of them since I was a kid,” Craig flinched at his admission, fingers drumming on his thighs. Craig knew. He _knew_ that even his voice was different, sounding sweet and kind, something he knew Clyde had never, ever heard from him. Clyde’s eyes were still on him when Craig looked to him for a reaction. Craig shot him a look with his eyebrows raised, making a face that said ‘do-you-see-what-I-mean?’

“I don’t r-really own a lot of blankets. Just one,” Tweek said after taking another sip of his coffee. The sight of Tweek’s tongue darting out to lick his lips made him even more nervous.

“I...I can lend you some of mine, if you want! A couple of them have weird white stains, though. Just ignore those,” Craig said, eyes widening at the realization of what he just blurted out. He watched as the pink on Tweek’s face reddened until he kind of looked like a tomato.

Craig wanted the ground the ground to swallow him up already. He wanted to just lay in an eternal rest. What the fuck was that?! He had never said anything  _that_ embarrassing to Tweek before. He regretted nothing in his life more than this moment, for sure. After an uncomfortable silence that he spent praying to every god he could think of to just smite him _now_ , Clyde yelled out. “Okay! Who wants to start playing now? I wanna start playing now. Please, can we start now?”

He guessed Clyde would have _a lot_ to say to him later.

———

When Tweek had to leave and they’d said their ‘see you on Monday’s,’ Clyde sat Craig down on his bed, a hand on his shoulder. His brown eyes dug into Craig’s icy blue ones, a seriousness in the way he furrowed his brows. He didn’t speak for a long while and Craig was just about to wave his hand in front of Clyde’s face to check if he was just zoning out, when Clyde sighed.

“What. The. Fuck. Just. Happened,” Clyde said robotically, tone of voice completely uncharacteristic of him.

“Why are you surprised? I already told you what to expect,” Craig said, words empty. He didn’t think anything could have prepared Clyde for how that went.

“I didn’t know it would be that bad!” Clyde whined, frowning hard, “That was _not_ the Craig Tucker I know! Who the fuck was that?! You- you fucking...okay, listen- I watch a lot of cringe compilations, dude. A _lot_. And I don’t think I’ve ever cringed at those as much as I did watching you like that. I thought it would be funny but it wasn’t! It was _so_ painful. And when you fucking _bragged_ to him that you won a multi-hour Smash Bros tournament against us and Stan’s gang- that’s not something you brag about to someone you want to get with, dude! And don’t even get me started on the white stains thing. That was by far the worst thing I have ever witnessed _in my life_ \- it was- I...”

When it seemed like he had run out of things to say, Craig stepped in. “...Are you done?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m done,” Clyde said, faintly out of breath from his tirade. “Anyway, that was bad. That was really bad. This is one of the toughest cases I've ever had to deal with. But it's nothing _The_ Clyde Donovan can't fix! In fact, I already have an idea for Phase 2!” Craig raised his eyebrow, urging him to go on.

“Okay, okay. So. Do you know if Token still has that earpiece thing we used to prank-”

“No,” Craig interjected, shooting this idea down immediately.

“No as in he doesn’t have it anymore? Or no as in you don’t know?”

“I mean no as in I know what you’re thinking and I’m not doing it,” Craig deadpanned. Clyde was crazy if he thought Craig was going to agree to the plan he was sure he was cooking up.

“Oh yeah, what is it?” Clyde asked, an eyebrow raised and thoroughly convinced that no, Craig _didn’t_ know the completely brilliant plan he conjured up himself. Or saw in a movie. Either way, he thought it was pretty brilliant.

“You’re going to stick the earpiece in my ear while Tweek and I hang out and you’re going to sit your ass at home or something and tell me what to say,” Craig explained Clyde’s plan to him.

The smugness on Clyde’s face faded. He crossed his arms and looked away, pouting, “Okay, yeah.”

“Now that that’s out there, do you agree now that it's stupid?” Craig asked.

“Pffff, no! It’ll work! Okay, okay- do you have any _better_ ideas? You saw yourself back there. That was a trainwreck, man. I could tell you were nervous. You kept going on and on and on. That wasn’t you, dude! Because you’ve been fucking up so bad, he thinks you always act like that when you don’t! We have to make him see what the girls saw in you back then, which is like, you know, you normally! When you’re with us!” Clyde explained.

“But I can’t-”

“Yeah- that’s where I come in. I’ll be saying stuff I think normal Craig would respond with. I’ve known you since we were kids, dude. I’m pretty sure I got my Craig impression down pat.”

Craig considered it, making sense of what was laid out to him. The more rational part of his mind was telling him to just drop it and accept that there was no way he could change Tweek’s opinion on him. He’d be better off just not bothering with all this shit and go back to doing what he did best: marathoning Red Racer alone in his room.

But he kept remembering how Tweek would laugh sometimes at things he said during lab. It was music, his heart soaring at the fact that he was the one who made that beautiful sound like bells come out of his mouth. He wanted to be with him so bad. If they did Clyde’s plan, he could have a chance to. But...wouldn’t it kind of be like lying, though? He didn’t want to lie to Tweek. Then again, if Clyde was going to tell him to say things that he’d normally say anyway, it wouldn’t really be lying. Clyde would just be...helping him become more like himself. With this, Craig had made up his mind.

———

After a long internal pep talk with himself and a lot of preparation, he had managed to pull himself together enough to pull Tweek aside on Monday and ask if he wanted to hang out at the newly opened arcade with him after school the next day. He was kind of a mess of stuttered words but he got the job done. Clyde didn't even have to pull him away from where he was watching nearby to listen for if Craig started saying something stupid that would make Tweek's opinion of him go even lower. Miraculously, even after the mess that took place at Clyde’s house, Tweek had agreed to hang out with him at the arcade. And now, well...here he was.

“Alright, remember- just say exactly what I say, okay? We can’t have you thinking for yourself here, dude. We're in Phase 2 of Operation Get Craig A Boyfriend and we can't have you fucking up now; we still have Phase 3,” reminded the voice in his ear, sounding a bit filtered from the quality of the little speaker. His chullo hat covered his ears so there was no way Tweek would be able to see the earpiece. They did a few test runs beforehand to confirm that Clyde would be able to hear everything Craig would be hearing so that he could give him the appropriate responses. Everything seemed to be in working order.

But Craig still felt incredibly stupid. He thought this only worked in the movies. And he was entrusting a task this big to _Clyde Donovan_. Sure, Clyde did have pretty great success with setting people up together. But at the same time, this was the guy who thought it would be a good idea to feed Stripe #4 a Hershey’s kiss. No matter how many times he justified himself with ‘ _Everyone_ likes chocolate, Craig! How was I supposed to know?!’ he didn’t think he’d ever forgive Clyde for that. Point is: Craig was waiting for Tweek at the arcade now, and he was still kind of hesitant.

“Oh, oh- also, remember to keep your face looking like you have a stick up your ass. That’s what you always look like,” Clyde snickered.

“At least I don’t look like you,” Craig quipped just loud enough that Clyde could hear but no one would look at him seemingly talking to himself.

“Ha! Joke’s on you. I _know_ I’m hot,” Clyde professed. “Anyway, remember what we talked about to pull this off, dude. When he gets here, you’re a parrot. Your voice is not yours. It’s mine. Clear your mind. Put all your focus into repeating what I say, how I say it. Your only job is to mindlessly copy. Say it with me- ‘I am a-?’”

“I am a parrot,” Craig muttered begrudgingly, knowing saying it would be the only thing that would shut Clyde up. He got it, he got it, Clyde had told him this a hundred times already.

Blue eyes peered around from his position, leaning against the wall of the arcade’s exterior. It’s been a couple of minutes after their agreed meeting time and he wasn’t here yet. Just then, he spotted a bright shock of blonde hair quickly approaching him. He could already feel his palms start to sweat.

“H-he’s here,” Craig said quietly for Clyde to hear.

“Oh shit. Okay, okay- Phase 2: commence. Remember- game face, dude. Game face,” Clyde rushed out. Craig complied, face going blank and neutral like it was before he saw Tweek making his way to him.

Tweek smiled apologetically when he got to him, greeting him slightly out of breath, “Hi, s-sorry I’m late, uh, again. I was w-with my friends. I got here a-as fast as I could, I-I promise.”

There was something different about Tweek today. His hair looked more tamed, his green button up looked like it was actually ironed for once and was he...was he wearing _eyeliner_? He could barely see it. It was thin, a warm dark brown, and pretty close to his lash line but it made his already doe eyes look just that much bigger that it made Craig break his facade and smile, staring at the eyes he could get lost in.

“Okay, just nod at him and go inside, dude,” Clyde ordered.

Distracted, Craig started to repeat the command, “Okay just no-”

“No! Don’t _say_ that, you fucking- I _mean_ you should nod. And go inside,” Clyde said, clearly frustrated. Craig’s eyes widened a fraction from the realization, the smile from his face draining away. He couldn’t believe that Tweek _just_ got here and he had already messed up. Craig snapped out of it, face once again going blank.

“Huh? Craig, a-are you okay?” Tweek asked, confused at his behavior just then.

“Sure,” Craig mimicked from Clyde. He began walking into the arcade as per the command, with Tweek trailing slightly behind him.

The sounds of the various machines around them started to drown out Tweek’s voice, “Are you sure?”

“That’s what I just said, wasn’t it?” Craig said. Wow, he thought, Clyde really _could_ do a good impression of him. Right down to the monotone he only ever heard coming from his own mouth. He guessed he could trust him with this after all.

Tweek looked a bit taken aback at the snappy response. He quickly changed the subject, “Oh. Y-yeah, it was. So, uh, what do you wanna play f-first?”

“Don’t really care,” Craig said, doing his best to copy the flat voice that he heard when his mind was on other things. He wondered what Tweek would look like trying to shoot at one of those basketball hoop games over there. The image in his head almost made him smile to himself like an idiot; he imagined him on his tippy toes in an attempt to throw the ball more accurately, probably with his tongue out focusing like he did when he wrote up their reports. He imagined himself lifting Tweek up to give him an advantage and rack up points they could trade at the counter later for something dumb like a pack of silly bands. God, he was so fucking lame.

“Uh...o-okay, can we do a racing game?,” Tweek gestured to a row of machines, snapping Craig out of his thoughts. Craig wished Tweek didn’t see his eyes lighten up at the suggestion. He liked those games too. He learned a lot of winning techniques from the hours of Red Racer etched into his mind.

“It won’t be fair playing against someone who can’t reach the gas pedal.” Craig recognized that as the dry humor he’d often directed towards Clyde.

“I-I’m not _that_ short,” Tweek huffed, “let’s go play! I can reach it, I’ll show you!” Tweek walked towards the machines and sat on one of the seats available, patting on the one beside him for Craig to sit on, which he did.

“See!” Tweek made a show of pressing his foot to the pedal. “I _can_ reach it!”

Craig thought it was impossible, _completely impossible_ , to fit so much cute into such a small body. Yet here he was, being proved wrong. Craig did his very best to appear composed and passive even though his mouth was itching to let out a goofy looking, lovesick smile. Craig swiped the card when Clyde told him to, starting the game with the car select screen. As he flipped through the cars, he noticed a character at the side of the screen who kind of looked like-

“Look, Craig! It looks like Red Racer!” Tweek noted, pointing at the character donning scarlet gear and reminding Craig that Tweek still knew all this shit about him.

“Yeah,” Craig said. Tweek looked like he was waiting for Craig to say more. But when he didn’t, he frowned just enough for Craig to see it for a split second before he turned back to the game. Once they both pressed ‘ready’ to start the race, a loading animation showed up. Craig stole a glance beside him, finding Tweek with his eyes on the screen and his hands on the 10 and 2 position on the steering wheel. The glow that the screen highlighted the high points of his face, emphasizing his cheekbones. It would make Craig's knees go weak if he weren't sitting.

“Okay dude, now _really_ try to kick ass at this. _This_ is a video game it’s not lame to be good at. It’ll you know, show him that you’re totally badass and can drive racecars and stuff. It’ll be sweet, he’ll be into it,” Clyde urged. He didn’t need the encouragement. He knew he could win. Though he’d never admit to Clyde that when the game started, he gave Tweek a little head start just to see him smile when Craig’s car was behind his.

When the race was done, Craig didn’t think Tweek was a bad opponent at all. He hit his car a few times, followed by an “Oh Jesus! Agh! I’m sorry!” that let Craig think he didn’t mean it, but the way the other car drove his to the wall even after the apologies said otherwise. Craig took his win with his competitor not far behind him.

“Wow, you beat me!” Tweek said, standing up from the seat. He beamed up at him when Craig stood. Guess he wasn’t a sore loser. When Clyde heard what Tweek said, he had congratulated him on the win and immediately went back to the task at hand.

“That was lame,” Craig droned, back to parroting Clyde.

“...Are you...are you sure you’re feeling okay, Craig? You’ve k-kind of been acting different this whole time. Oh Jesus! Are you sick?” Tweek’s brows shot up in a mixture of panic and worry. He reached a hand up to touch the back of it on the other’s forehead. Craig didn’t have time to feel surprised at the sudden contact before the hand was retracted, “Y-you don’t _feel_ like your temperature’s up.”

“What did I say the first time? I’m fine,” Craig said.

“I-if you say so,” Tweek answered, still sounding unconvinced. He stared up at Craig for a moment, like he was trying to find any other sign of him being ill. This had Craig thinking that maybe this wasn’t working. All it seemed to make Tweek do was think he was sick or some kind of not okay. But maybe it just meant that he wasn’t used to him acting like this. Clyde had gotten him this far and Craig hadn’t fucked up majorly yet, so despite his doubts, he decided to keep trusting Clyde with this.

“Let’s try getting something from that claw machine! Those little bird plushies are cute,” Tweek’s attempt to steer the topic away was clear. He pointed over to a claw machine near where they were standing which were indeed, filled with cockatoo plushies.

“Those are rigged,” Craig said. Clyde was right, he did believe they were rigged. He read once that the claw’s grip was usually extremely light, only paying out once every x amount of times, depending on the claw machine. Logically, it wasn’t worth it to try and get a prize because even if your try happened to be in the 1/x chance of it having a good grip, you still had to factor in how you actually position the claw. But when it came to Tweek most of the time, Craig’s brain didn’t register logic.

Tweek was upset at his response, mouth twitching downwards as he looked up at him. The hurt in his eyes made Craig want to look away. He ignored the pang in his chest.

“I...I still think it’s w-worth a shot,” Tweek stuttered. Craig was never one to crave physical contact but right now, all he wanted to do was scoop Tweek up in his arms and hold him still until the shaking stopped.

“It’s a waste of time,” Craig said, still managing to deadpan even as he felt the guilt overtake him. The look on Tweek’s face made him want to rip out the earpiece and not say anything that came from Clyde any longer. At this point, he didn’t care anymore. He just wanted to play on the claw machine until they got the plushie he wanted. He didn’t care that it was rigged. He didn’t care how difficult it would be to get. He’d keep trying until the arcade was closed and come back the next day and the next and the next and the next if it would make Tweek happy if he won it. He didn’t care if that made him look lame. He just wanted Tweek to be happy right now because the look on his face- Craig was pretty sure it was _killing_ him.

Tweek looked down at the floor, voice soft and sad, “W-what is? The claw machine or me?”

Craig paused, blocking out whatever Clyde was saying, too fixated on what Tweek had said. He stammered, back to his own words, “Wh-what?”

He couldn’t see Tweek’s face, but his fingers were fidgeting with the hem of his button down and his voice sounded thick when he finally spoke, ignoring or maybe not hearing Craig’s stuttered response, “It...it doesn’t seem like you’re having f-fun with me. This _entire_ time, y-you’ve been...I’m sorry. I’ll...I’ll go home.”

Tweek glanced up at him quickly with glassy eyes, biting his bottom lip like it was to keep it from trembling. He walked away briskly, disappearing in a sea of flashing lights from the machines and exiting the arcade. Craig’s feet felt glued to the floor, his insides feeling heavy like someone had stuffed him with bowling balls. All he could manage was a weak cry that Tweek probably didn’t hear, “T-tweek, no!”

He heard Clyde’s voice in his ear. “Craig? Dude, I’m so sorry. I was just-“

Craig tore the device from his ear and roughly stuffed it into his hoodie’s pocket. He needed to be alone.

———

Craig sat in his room for a long time, just thinking about everything. How he made Tweek feel and whether he should be angry at Clyde or not. He never had to think about his _feelings_ so much. He could admit that it was difficult for him; it wasn’t something he was used to since it wasn’t ever something that he had to do. He eventually came to a decision that he had to talk to Tweek. Alone. No earpieces and no Clyde. He was prepared to give him a genuine apology and an explanation for his actions, which he was nervous about since he’d never done anything like that before. The closest he got to giving a heartfelt apology was an unbothered ‘sorry,’ and a shrug. But Tweek deserved a real one. This wasn’t about Craig anymore- not about his image in Tweek’s eyes or anything. This was about him fucking up and making Tweek feel like he was unimportant, or uninteresting or unwanted. This was the farthest from the truth, and Craig wanted this to be known because Tweek didn’t deserve to feel unwanted. He’d always be wanted. He knew Tweek didn’t like him back but that was fine. He’d just spend the rest of his life crushing on him from afar or something, whatever.

Now, Craig was in front of Tweek’s house, remembering where it was from when Clyde pointed it out to him a few weeks back when they happened to pass by it. He was about to knock but he paused; maybe he should do this tomorrow. The whole arcade thing _did_ just happen around four hours ago. But there was an itching in his chest that wouldn't leave him alone and he wanted to get this over with. It was time to be brave. It took a while of Craig knocking before the door opened, revealing Tweek in his pajamas. It seemed that the cold from outdoors hit him full force when he swung the door open because his shoulders gave a sudden shiver. Craig noticed that Tweek’s nose was tinged red and his eyes were slightly puffy. His heart sank.

Craig could feel his nerves creep up as he managed weakly, “H-hi. I, uh, wanted to talk to you about today, Tweek.”

“I...P-please come in, it’s c-cold outside,” Tweek requested softly, stepping aside for so Craig could come in. As Tweek shut the door behind him, the first thing Craig noticed besides the overpowering smell of coffee was that the house was quiet. At this time, he'd have expected the sound of dishes being washed from dinner but there was nothing but the sound of his own feet against the floor. His parents must not be home, he thought. Tweek led him to the almost overdecorated living room; it kind of looked like everything was bought as a set from a home decor catalogue.

Craig sat on the comfortable couch as Tweek headed straight for the kitchen, calling out to him, “Do you want a-anything? I-I’m getting some coffee.”

“Yeah, you. I-I mean, to talk! To talk...to you,” Craig stammered, mentally slapping himself. He peered over from where he could see Tweek in the kitchen, his trembling hands about to grab his mug full of coffee. He foresaw disaster in this, fearing Tweek might drop it since he was shaking so bad.

Craig immediately rushed to his side, getting up from the couch before Tweek could pick up the mug. “Wait, no, I’ll get that for you.”

Craig reached for the mug, brushing his knuckles against Tweek’s fingertips in the process. He felt his heart skip a beat at the contact. Cheeks as red as Craig’s, Tweek looked up at him. “Oh, th-thanks.”

They both walked back to the living room, Craig carefully holding the mug so that none of the coffee would spill out. Craig was about to make the move to give back the mug when Tweek moved his cold hand over his to get it from him, making Craig jump a little. Tweek squeaked. “Gah! I’m sorry!”

Craig stuttered. “N-no, it’s okay, here’s your coffee.”

Tweek took it from him with a quiet “thanks,” and sat down on the couch, taking a sip before placing it on top of the coffee table. Craig sat next to him, far enough that it wasn’t awkward. When the silence dragged on, Craig cleared his throat, “So, I’m here to say that I’m sorry for...how I acted today.”

“...It’s okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t interesting enough, but y-you could’ve...been a bit nicer about it,” Tweek said, sorrow clear in his small voice.

“That’s not it! I do think you’re interesting. I think you’re _really_ interesting! You interest me all the time! I-” Craig caught himself, willing himself to put it together, “...Um, the person you were with today- that wasn’t me. Well, in a way, it was because Clyde was making it so that it still _was_ me but. Uh.”

Tweek was evidently confused, head tilted to one side in the way that Craig absolutely adored. “Huh?”

“Look,” Craig sighed. He guessed he had to start from the beginning, which was telling Tweek that he liked him. He was beyond nervous. This was his first time ever confessing to anyone that he liked them. He thought he had it down before coming to Tweek's house but being there, in the moment, it was different. He decided it'd be better to get it over with now and just rip the bandage off quickly. It wasn't going to be the perfect confession, but it was going to be real and honest. No matter how embarrassing it was going to be for Craig. “I...I like you. I like you _a lot_. I even b-banged my head against a locker the other day because I wasn’t looking where I was going because you walked past me.”

A nervous laugh bubbled its way out of Craig’s throat, making Tweek smile shyly. “I know. That you like me, I mean. Not about you hitting your head."

...He knew? How did he know? Craig knew he wasn't exactly good at hiding it but he was so nervous to confess to him only to find out that all this time,  _he knew_? Words stuttered out from him ungracefully. "Wha- you- you  _know_?"

Tweek stared, very confused. "Well, yeah. That's why you a-asked me out, right?"

Craig blinked, equally confused. He would've remembered if he were ever brave enough to ask Tweek on a date. "When did- when did I ask you out? N-not that I wouldn't ask you out! I totally would! But...but have I already?"

"We were just on that date a few hours ago! Y-you came here because you w-wanted to talk about it? Th-that's what you said literally minutes ago at my front door, remember?" Tweek said, every sentence sounding like a question. Craig had a pretty good memory, yet he was questioning it now since he could not for the life of him remember being on a date today. Unless...unless he was talking about-

"You mean the arcade? You- you thought that was a date?"

Tweek’s eyebrows shot up at this. “It wasn’t?! Jesus! But the girls said- and I...gah! I’m sorry! I just thought- I don’t know! Agh! I’m sorry!”

So he  _did_ think it was a date. If he thought it was a date and he said yes, then did that mean Tweek liked him too? If Tweek  _did_ like him, did that mean that he acted like a dick and did that whole thing with Clyde for no reason? Why did he think it was a date in the first place? All Craig asked was if he wanted to hang out. He never said anything about it being a date. His mind was racing, thoughts trying to catch each other. It was question upon question upon question and Craig didn't know how to react to it. He smiled wide and began to laugh, something he normally only did if something _really_ funny happened. Never when something like this did. Tweek’s face reddened, looking down at the floor, “D-don’t laugh at me! Gah, I’m so embarrassed!”

“I’m not...laughing at y-you!” Craig said through his laughter. “It’s just that I’m s-so confused!”

Tweek paused and looked up at Craig, who was still laughing. He smiled slowly, which grew into him laughing right alongside Craig. Soon, they were both in a fit of giggles blending into one another. When the laughter subsided, they looked at each other, wide smiles on both faces. Craig noticed that they had moved a bit closer together on the couch somehow because their knees brushed together. Craig started, “I think we both need to explain some things. Do you wanna start?”

“O-okay. Promise you won't laugh?" Tweek asked.

"I won't laugh," Craig said.

Tweek nodded. "Okay, good. Uh, wh-when you asked me to the arcade, I didn’t think it was a date at first. But then I went back to Bebe and Wendy who were watching us! And th-they said that you looked weird when you were talking to me. They said that they’ve never seen you show so much emotion before and that you looked really n-nervous. They said you were kind of mean to people and you always had a straight face and looked bored and stuff. So I said that couldn’t be right because that wasn’t wh-what you were like with me!” Tweek paused, checking to see if Craig was still listening. Craig nodded, eager to hear more.

“And then they asked me what you were talking to me about. So I said you asked me to hang out with you at the arcade. A-and then they started freaking out because they were convinced it was a date and they asked me if I...liked you and I said yes b-because I d-did. I told them that it wasn’t a date and that you just wanted to hang out because we’re f-friends but then Bebe was like, ‘no Tweek it’s a date, believe me, I’ve never seen Craig Tucker look so nervous before!’” Tweek did a poor impression of Bebe’s voice, making Craig smile just like he always did when he was being adorable, “They c-convinced me it was a date too, since I figured that they knew you better s-since they’ve known you longer a-and I was just misinterpreting you asking me to hang out as a friend thing! They had me totally convinced it was a date, Craig! I'm so sorry for assuming, gah! Then- IstartedgettingallnervousbecauseI’veneverbeenonadatebefo-”

Tweek was speaking faster, clearly, his mind was getting ahead of him with the things he wanted to say and it was getting harder to pick apart his words and understand what he was saying. Craig put a hand on Tweek’s shoulder, he wasn’t the best at comfort. But for Tweek, he wanted to be. “Hey. Let’s slow down here, yeah? Breathe, it’s okay.”

Tweek thanked him with smiling eyes, taking a breath before continuing in a more controlled pace this time. “I g-got nervous. Because it was suddenly a date and I didn’t know what to do. And I was still dealing with the thought in my head that you  _actually_ asked me out. The girls w-were really excited and they brought me over to Bebe's house after school earlier today and helped me g-get ready for it.” That explained the eyeliner, Craig guessed. “They t-told me that I was really lucky bec-because they said you were...really, uh, h-hot. And that lots of girls in our grade used to l-like you but most of them moved on because you kept rejecting everyone. Gah! It made me even more nervous because I felt like there were high expectations on me! S-so when we met up and y-you started being kind of cold to me, I was really hurt. And eventually, all my anxiety about it just kind of b-built up and...I’m sorry.”

Well, now Craig just felt even more like a dick. This could have all been avoided. He didn’t know why Tweek was apologizing when he didn’t do anything wrong. It was just him. And Clyde, he guessed. But the one thought that was itching in the back of his mind was, “so...so you actually _like_ , like me? You don’t think I’m lame?”

“Why would I think that?” Tweek asked, face scrunched in confusion.

“Why...why wouldn’t you?”

“I-I always thought you were incredibly cool. Too cool for me to hang out with outside of class, even. I w-was too nervous to talk to you after we switched lab partners s-so all I did was wave at you at school sometimes. I th-thought you were only talking to me before because we were always done early so we didn't really have anything else to do,” Tweek said.

Craig blinked, unbelieving. “You...think I’m cool?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Tweek said, smile dreamy and warm as he began to talk about Craig. “I think it’s incredibly sweet how much you care about Stripe #5. And the way your eyes just light up when you start talking about planets and stars. It always amazed me how much you knew about them. And when you talked about wanting to work at NASA someday, I thought it was so cool that you had such  _big_ dreams. You’re the coolest person I’ve ever met, I d-don’t know _why_ you’d think you’re lame.”

Something like giddiness bubbled up in Craig’s stomach. Tweek liked him. He got an _actual_ angel to like him. He felt like the luckiest guy in the entire world. He couldn’t believe Tweek liked every single dorky thing about him. It made him rethink every conversation they had where he was thinking that Tweek’s opinion of him was just getting lower and lower. One particular moment stood out, an intense embarrassment flooding through him, “And you...liked me even after the other day when we went to Clyde’s place and I said that thing about the blankets and the white sta-“

“Gah! D-dont remind me! I th-thought that was weird but yeah, of c-course I still did. I k-kind of liked you when I first saw you, you know, in lab. I thought you were really c-cute. Then we got paired up and started talking and then I liked you even m-more. You’ve always been really nice to me and I liked hearing about your life and you seemed to like hearing about mine too,” Tweek said, blushing.

“I do,” Craig affirmed.

Tweek’s face changed into a more questioning, sadder expression, “Then wh-why did it seem like you didn’t like spending time with me today? D-did I do something wrong?”

Craig sighed. Now that he knew all these things from Tweek, he was sure Tweek was going to think his side was completely crazy. But Craig told him everything. It was more talking than Craig had ever done before, second only to when they had to deliver monologues in front of the whole class back in grade school. When it came to telling Tweek about Phase 2 of Clyde's plan, though, it was a bit more difficult for him because it just sounded so stupid in his head. But he knew it had to be done.

“...And then, uh, when you left, he said that yeah, you totally think I’m lame and that I wasn’t acting like myself and I had to be more like myself because you’d be into that and s-so, uh,” Craig gulped.

“Wh-what? And then what?” Tweek urged, clearly intrigued.

“You’re going to think I’m an idiot but, uh, I asked you to the arcade, right? Um, I did that because Clyde had a plan to...uh...”

“A p-plan to what?”

“He was talking to me through an earpiece the- the whole time. And telling me things that I’d normally say so that I could say them to you. S-so the whole time in the arcade, it was Clyde. W-well, it was Clyde doing an impression of me, technically. But...yeah,” Craig finished, wincing at what he had just confessed. It sounded even more ridiculous out loud. He gauged Tweek’s reaction. Tweek was biting his lip again, but this time it looked like it was to keep himself from...laughing?

“Are you...going to say anything?” Craig asked.

Tweek busted out in giggles, “You- y-you did all that just because you th-th-thought I’d be into the whole b-b-bad boy thing my- my _friends_ liked you for?!”

“I know, I know!” Craig groaned, blushing.

“Okay, okay,” Tweek said, wiping some tears off his face from the laughter that was dying down. He took a breath, his voice shifting in a more serious tone. “Craig, you wanna know what I think? The reason you act the way you do around me is because I-I guess you have a soft spot for me. It’s still _you_ , you’re still acting like yourself. It’s just you with your guard down. And the fact that I’m th-the only one who gets to see that, it makes me feel special. I think it’s r-really sweet. I...I've n-never felt this way about anyone else before.”

Craig felt the corners of his lips turn up, lopsided. He hadn’t felt _so much_ in one night before. He didn’t know what to do with it all. His big hands clasped over the hands in front of him, the ones he’d always wanted to hold. He looked at Tweek, letting his emotions take him when he found him smiling sweetly, looking like something out of a dream with his soft features. Craig didn’t feel nervous anymore. Not when Tweek was intertwining their fingers together, making it clear that he felt the same way. Tweek was sitting closer to him now, their legs almost pressing against each other. He could see his freckles better from this close. They looked like stars. And Craig fucking loved stars. The stars moved in closer and closer, he was dazed- and it dawned on him. Holy shit. Tweek was leaning in, long blonde lashes resting against the pillow of his cheeks. It was no big deal, Craig thought, it was a kiss. Just a kiss. He could do that. Just lips on lips and that’s that. But then their breath was mixing together as their lips were hovering.

The soft, slightly dry lips moving against his made the world disappear around him. He melted into a different world, one that smelled like espressos and had sunshine for hair. His arms moved to wrap around Tweek’s waist, wanting his arms and lips full of him, pressing Tweek against him as close as possible. He felt the kiss in his whole body, the inexperienced way they pressed against each other, Craig’s nose touching a now pink, freckled cheek. At some point, Tweek’s hands came up to card through the dark locks under Craig’s hat.

And then Tweek pulled away just a fraction, and fluttered his eyes open to look at Craig’s lips briefly, then pulled back in for several small, chaste kisses that Craig returned, sighing happily. He felt Tweek smile into the kisses and then Craig felt the sun and stars exploding and supernovas- everything he read about and studied about the vast space was raging inside of him. And yet the first word that came to mind was something he never thought to believe in: ‘magic.’ Their lips pressed together again and again and again, innocent and new and excited.  
  
Eventually, they pulled apart, faces still close to each other as their foreheads pressed together. Craig's eyes were closed as he could feel Tweek puffing out light, coffee scented breath that tickled his skin. Craig opened his eyes and was taken aback at the sight in front of him. That kind of beauty was just unattainable. Tweek was impossibly gorgeous when he looked like that, a dopey, contented smile after all those kisses. This smile was one he wanted to remember on a bad day. All he'd have to do was think back to the way those perfect lips curved up, beautiful and blissful. And then he'd be back on his feet. Seeing Tweek's face only made Craig want to kiss him again. So he did, just because he couldn’t help it. And then once more, just because he missed the feeling right after he pulled away. And then just _one_ more time, just because Tweek started giggling. And then again, just because.

As they talked, starry-eyed and melting on the couch together, the sky had gotten even darker. The moonlight was more prominent through the window than it was when Craig got there. Craig left Tweek’s house that night with a stupid grin from when Tweek got on his tiptoes to kiss him on the nose at the door with a ‘be safe, see you tomorrow.’

———

When Craig noticed the bags under his eyes from texting Tweek, his _boyfriend_ , all night, he didn’t care that he looked exactly what he was- sleepless. He was too busy being giddy over how Tweek sent him a ‘cant wait 2 see u tomorrow aaaaah‘ with every heart emoji available next to it. When Craig waited outside of Tweek’s house so they could walk to school together the next day, he didn’t care that it was out of the way and he had to take a longer route.  He was too busy thinking about warming up Tweek’s hands when he walked out the front door. When Craig and Tweek walked into school with their fingers intertwined, Craig didn’t care enough that there were pairs of eyes on them. He was too busy being ecstatic. When Clyde started telling Token and Jimmy at lunch how he totally got them together and didn’t fuck up at all, Craig didn’t care enough to correct him. He was too busy texting love notes to his _boyfriend_ \- fuck, he could hardly _believe_ it- who was sitting at his usual table, probably being asked by his friends for details about yesterday.

And when it was time for lab, and Tweek looked up from his work to smile at him sweet and warm and adoring, Craig’s heart fluttered all the same.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a long one shot bc those are my favorite to read and like this took me so long to write like i rewrote so many versions of this aaaaaaaa anyway thanks for reading!


End file.
